I have started chitting my first earlies, they are called Solist. I will only grow them in the poly tunnel in raised beds. I grew them last year and they were a great success, so I ordered 2 x 2kg bags of seed. I will not grow any main crops this year as the last 2-3 years were disasters. They will be sown in March after St. Patrick’s Day and the shoots will be covered with fleece at night when they appear.

I grow a few toms in pots on the patio usually small determinates. They always get straggly and droopy.  As  I'm fed up with twigs, sticks and string, I'm considering buying something st4onger that will poke into the pots to give a bit of support.  Along the same lines I don't grow bush toms in the ground outdoors because they droop and get manky. I might even consider a support or two for bigger varieties. 

Any advice on what and where to start looking?

Anyone counting birds this weekend?

https://www.rspb.org.uk/get-involved/act...birdwatch/

Not quite sure how this has happened but I’ve been roped in to organising a seed swap table on the 11th March     . As part of a potato day. Both a first for mull as far as I know. Certainly since I’ve been on mull. 

So I’m thinking 
Baskets of seeds on a table and people just bring say 10 packets and choose 10 others ( very similar to our swaps )

Was going to have flowers, brassicas, legumes, roots, salad, tomatoes, cucurbits, alliums, herbs, others .
And a basket of out of date that people can take as many as they like. 

Also seeds can be full or part packets and self saved. 

Do I need to do anything else? 
Want to keep it as simple as possible!! For my benefit mostly     . 

How do I get a stock of seeds to start the ball rolling? Obviously my seed will be in the baskets, but not sure I’ll have enough. Was going to ask on the local gardening group but if they donate them they won’t have any to swap. Because it’ll be all the same people probably.

It's nearly that time of year again. 

Greenhouse:

grown before...

Mat-Su Express - dependable, big producer, very good taste, one which I grow every year now
Girl Girl's Weird Thing - amazing tomato, great taste, looks beautiful, huge producer, another one which I will grow every year
Rosedale - probably the best tasting tomato last year, a few weeks later to ripen but very good yields
Daniel Burson - black beefsteak, 1st year died early, 2nd year not true to type, let's hope it's 3rd time lucky now I have reliable seed from the USA

new for this year...

George Detsika's Italian Red - big red beefsteak, supposed to be quite early for a big tomato
Polaris - black beefsteak, early and very meaty, bred by Karen Olivier from Canada (she grows outdoors so many of her breeds are early and hardy)
Longhorn - elongated black ox-heart, supposed to be a big producer
True Colors - beautiful multi-coloured ox-heart bred by Karen Olivier again

Outdoors:

Nagina F1 (Crimson Plum) - blight resistant plum
Rose Crush F1 - blight resistant pink beefsteak
Pink Honeymoon F1 - blight resistant pink beefsteak
Maskotka
Reinhard's Purple Sugar
Sweet Aperitif

..and whatever comes up from the 'Melange Surprise' free packet I received last year in my tomato seed order from Cultive ta Rue (https://cultivetarue.fr/boutique/?lang=en).

Some pictures of the new-to-me varieties attached.

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I ventured outside for a few minutes to snap these.

Autumn onions, Senshyu Yellow, first time grown from seed, sown 16th august last year.

   

and garlic planted 26/9/22

   

and recently sown seedlings (29/12/22) in a cold greenhouse.

   

The farthest are sturon (about100) then left to right bedford (40), up-to-date (30) and sweet spanish (3)

All in all not doing too badly given the cold spells we have had. Hopefully they will romp away when it warms up.

Just been watching a Huw Richards Youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qD0EG1djPms&t=15s about planning your garden. 
Now planning and I don't exactly come together very often but one thing he said made me think.
Plan your garden around the 10 or so veggies that are "Must Grows" and give them the most space. Can't remember the %. Then give a smaller % to the veg that you're not so keen on. 
Anyway, I started listing my 10/12 Must Grows and where I could grow them best. 
GH = Tomatoes, Cucumber, Lettuce/salad leaves
Outdoor  = Courgette, CFB, Mangetout, Broad beans, Carrots, Leek, Potatoes, Kale, Beetroot

My 2nd choices are Onion, Squash, cabbage/broccoli/brussels sprouts/cauli, Peas

My 3rd choices are Turnip, swede, Celery, Fennel, Radish, Kohl Rabi and the experimentals like Quinoa, Amaranth.

Interestingly, My 1st choice veg are also the ones that I find easiest to grow (apart from potatoes!)
My 2nd Choice are usually failures, even the onions from sets end up small 
3rd choice, apart from radish, never turn out the way they should.

Well I never, its your birthday Pyrenees Plot. Make sure you have a really good one.

Pretty much the same question as I asked about wood chip. Compost or mulch?
We’ve finally got round to picking up the last of the sawdust from milling our cladding. It’s been sat where it fell for over 6 months. So it’s very wet and has a little leaf litter in with it. Other than that it’s just a big pile of larch sawdust.

This is some we picked up while we were milling. Probably don’t have quite that much this time round. 
Just for idea of amount these are ton bags on a 12ft trailer. 

   

My 20-25 yr old JML bread master breadmaker is making an awful sqeaking noise. P has mended it once and it was a devil to get apart and put back together. It's done great service and I can't complain if it dies on me.

 As a preemptive shot I'm researching  a new one. I mostly bake wholemeal seeded loaves, not a lot else. Anyone got any recommendations?